Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth. #13 - Identify every point of contact with your customers. Assure that every employee that has personal contact with a customer or can influence a customer relationship is trained and equipped to engage them in a trust-oriented relationship with your company.
Frequently I drive across a massive suspension bridge built around 1944 that spans a mile-long stretch of the Illinois River. Usually I don’t give it thought; just drive to go from one side to the othe...

Last winter was pretty rough in many areas of the country, including here in the upper Midwest. So when this winter started early and came on with a vengeance in recent weeks, memories of last year’s record breaking snowfall had me thinking about the wisdom of a snow blower.
That was no surprise to area retailers, and there have been flyers and ads full of great deals on snow blowers, and tempting models placed strategically in the front aisles of Wal-Mart and even the local grocery store.
That...

Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth: #11 Have a true, simple and clearly worded statement to describe your unique and proven value to customers.
A recent transplant to the Chicago area, I’ve found the city to be hard working, tough and matter-of-fact. The city’s sports culture shares those characteristics, fielding high-quality teams and demanding much of them. In this environment, I was struck by the brilliance of a timeless marketing proposition for the popular sports bar/restaurant Buffa...

Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth: #10 Understand why customers value your products and services as well as your competitors’ products and services, and what drives their choice.
When she answered she was pleasant, helpful and engaging.
I needed a good quality mover that could protect my sleek black grand piano from harm as I moved from one home to a new one. She was a good sales person for Company A and was selling their standard moving services. For me, I wanted more than moving services, I...

Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth: #9 Develop only products and services that are high priorities for current and future customers.
There are a lot of candidates for the worst product launch in American history. Rejection of the heavily promoted but underwhelming Edsel in 1957 made the name of the car synonymous with failure. New Coke broke the “do no harm to my brand” rule and was turned away in 1985. Many others rival these product busts (see our post 25 Big American Product Flops).
But leav...

[Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth: #8: Have a mission statement that is easy to understand with clear benefits for employees, customers and vendors.]
It’s time to re-invent the mission statement.
A mission statement clarifies purpose. It describes what an organization does, defines the core activity and sets the boundaries for the output of the work. It brings clarity to how you organize and do your work.
But in our work with over a hundred organizations of all types and sizes, too often a mi...

Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth: # 7 Have a process to identify industry trends that will impact a customer’s opinion of you.
Wayne Gretzky was the greatest ice hockey player of all time not only because of his physical skills, but because he consistently saw where the play was going, where he needed to be a few seconds into the future. And he saw that faster and clearer than anyone else.
Gretzky said: “I couldn’t beat people with my strength; I don’t have a hard shot; I’m not the quic...

Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth: #6 When you talk with your customer, listen carefully, capturing their comments and any information that helps you understand their buying habits and unmet needs.
“WHY won’t you JUST LISTEN TO ME!” she said in a tense, high pitched voice.
And with that outburst from the famous Patient F in 1965, psychologist Heinz Kohut opened the vault of change management.
Kohut, along with his colleague Henri Maslow, was on a quest to identify the hot buttons for change....

Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth: # 5 Have a fully coordinated, customer sales approach, drawing a customer into an engaging relationship at every point of contact.
One of my beautiful daughters had a modeling gig for Lands’ End recently that put her in the popular catalog and on the company’s website. As a proud father, I searched out the Lands’ End webpage, found her picture and clicked to look at the various shots. I moved on to other web pages, including Facebook, where I was greeted ...

Valcort 35 Keys to Business Growth: #4 Have a clear understanding of how each of your products and services relate to the other and to the company as a whole.”
I watched as my 10 year-old son dug around in a bin of hundreds of small and odd shaped little pieces. He turned a red plastic block in his hand - shiny, triangular, smaller than his fingernail. It was a cool shape. He studied it and quickly placed it on the growing geometry of blocks. He pulled out another piece, imagined it, then ...